Evita - Page 8
Evita
Evita #175
Posted: 3/24/12 at 9:01pmMy one question, in the original, A New Argentina, was froth with large banners being revealed and torchlight, a truly thrilling theatrical experience, one burned into my memory. Is there at least something similar in this production to close act 1?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Evita #176
Posted: 3/25/12 at 3:34amElena Roger singing in head voice, Ricky Martin carrying a flag over his head as the cast follows him in circles then casts ballots in the election. That's about all.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
Evita #177
Posted: 3/25/12 at 1:10pm
In "A New Argentina," Eva and Peron aren't in a bed anymore (but they "officially" get married). There are Argentina flags that descend down, no torches.
Martin was pretty good on the singing part, but he doesn't go completely out in the "Money Kept Rolling Out," most particularly at the end which I thought was weird. He seems like he is trying to sing in a "Broadway" voice over any pop sensibility.
Evita #178
Posted: 3/25/12 at 2:05pmbwayphreak234 could you post the picture you saw of the proscenium wiht the banner you mentioned? I've seen the set but I'm very interested in seeing the proscenium.
Evita #179
Posted: 3/25/12 at 3:57pm
Here you go! There are tons more on foursquare.com if you search Marquis Theatre in NYC
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Evita #180
Posted: 3/25/12 at 6:55pmI saw the matinee yesterday with Christina DeCicco as Eva since I can't get through the London cast recording without covering my ears. She was quite great and definitely a triple threat. Overall though, I thought the production was uninspired and lacked intensity especially during "New Argentina". Ricky's singing wasn't as bad as I was expecting but his acting was at the community theatre level. Overall, I was not impressed. I'm a long time Evita fan and actually preferred the tour that came through DC a couple of years ago with the exception of Decicco.
Evita #182
Posted: 3/26/12 at 1:32pmAwwwwww too bad about A New Argentina. That number from the original version always made the hair on my neck stand up.
Evita #183
Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:11pm
Saw Christina DeCicco on Saturday and she was wonderful-her singing and diction were flawless. She, Cerveris, Von Essen, and Potter were fantastic.
I have to say as a whole this production of Evita is a snooze. They completely pasteurized the whole affair and took the edge out of the show. It's basically a staging of the film. All the bite that LuPone and Patinkin delivered is gone. I'm not talking about singing, I'm talking about the teeth this musical has. All the complexity and commentary on society, class, and fame is nowhere to be found. It's a clean, efficient, beautiful sounding bore. Even the staging is 'meh". At the end of the show, the woman behind me said, "why did everything take place in a courtyard. Did she die outside?"
As for Ricky Martin, he will be lucky if he has a voice left for opening. He's not singing. He's talk/singing, shouting, screaming and his voice was raspy and coming in and out by the second act. He also forgot lyrics. He was the least impressive aspect of the production and he got the loudest applause. Lemmings make me ill. He did not earn a standing ovation and cat calls. He couldn't sing the part. He is charming and dynamic, but he's not singing the score properly.
If you have to choose between Evita and something else, choose something else.
Evita #185
Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:24pmI largely agree with your observation about the show as a whole, Bettyboy but would probably say rather than 'the bite Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin delivered is gone" - that the bite of Hal Prince is gone. Most of what made EVITA great the first time was thanks to his concept of the material (including the characterizations).
Evita #186
Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:30pmKalimba, the lemmings are the "star obsessed" droves who jump to their feet for Martin just because he is an pop culture icon. He didn't earn that praise IMHO.
Evita #187
Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:38pmThanks. I never heard of that, and was trying to make sense of it. I definitely understand your intention though.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
Evita #188
Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:41pmI also noticed Ricky didn't really get a standing ovation; DeCicco did, however, at least in the mezz. It was a pretty quiet curtain call until Ricky came out then the crowd went nuts.
Evita #189
Posted: 3/26/12 at 4:01pm
On the topic of Evita, I can't believe I only now discovered this video of Aaron Tviet singing Buenos Aires on YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ck8aQCgAXrQ#!
Evita #190
Posted: 3/26/12 at 7:12pm
Can I be a nerd and say I really like the sound design of the show? The chanting crowds during the rallies, etc. started at just the right level that it actually sounded like the mezzanine had erupted, and not like a recording. I noticed more than a few people around me looking over their shoulders at those scenes.
I liked Ricky Martin. Greatest musical theatre actor ever, no, but those turning their noses up as him being "community theatre" sound just as biased as the fans. I love Mandy on the recording, and I've seen other productions of varying levels of professionalism and quality, but the Che in this production is not the communist revolutionary. Whether you agree with that change or not, holding up that- and Mandy- as the standard for the Che Ricky is supposed to achieve is useless. It's not the same character, and the direction and acting choices reflect that. Blame the production, not him.
The anti-revival lemmings are just as annoying as the fangirls.
Wanting life but never knowing how
Evita #191
Posted: 3/26/12 at 7:23pmUmm, I'm not an anti-revival lemming. I praised the majority of performances. All I said was Ricky sucked and direction lacked. Ricky does not sing well and dropped lyrics. Does that make me an anti-revival lemming?
Evita #192
Posted: 3/26/12 at 7:25pmI have to agree that some of EVITA's original "bite" was smoothed over for Alan Parker's 1996 film adaptation but in having seen boots of the original Broadway production the characterizations were down right cartoonish.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Evita #193
Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:04pm
Betty, to be fair, when I saw the show, Ricky Martin dropped no lyrics and his voice was in fine shape.
Yes, the sound design, over all, was good, but the orchestrations are a bit thin and the sound design, though it tried in places, could not compensate.
The design is lovely, but far too literal.. and the first 15 minutes have a number of great changes and reveals, then nothing but monotony.
Evita #194
Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:08pmBased on the video I have seen of the London production, I really like the literal approach that was taken. I found it to be quite effective. I'm excited to see this production live this summer. I saw the tour a few years ago and LOVED. Evita is one of my favorite movies and shows.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Evita #195
Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:38pmThe problem with the literal approach is that you spend the first couple scenes in VERY distinct, very complete realistic settings, then after "Buenos Aires" and "Goodnight and Thank You", you find yourself remaining on this incredibly realistic set that is meant to signify literally EVERY locale for the remainder of the show, so that alone scraps the idea of a realistic setting and breaks with the concept established at the top of the show.
Evita #196
Posted: 3/27/12 at 12:58am^ See I actually liked how they had the big reveal of the set which stayed the same for the rest of the show. I can see where you are coming from though. I thought that the wall that was used for Requiem Evita, Oh What A Circus, On This Night of a Thousand Stars, and Eva Beware of the City was perfect because, like the main set, it served a variety of locations for those first few scenes. Do they still track a staircase on stage right when Eva and Juan Peron go upstairs before Another Suitcase in Another Hall?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Evita #197
Posted: 3/27/12 at 1:47am
Hmm... perhaps it was staged differently in London. I have not seen any London footage...
The show begins with the newsreel footage of Eva's funeral during "Requiem" and the first part of "Oh, What a Circus.", the screen is at first about 10 feet off the ground, perhaps, but upstage is fog and darkness, with the screen coming back down as the crowd disperses and Eva is revealed at the end of the funeral footage. It's played entirely in-one. Then the projection dissolves to a rendering of the courtyard set and it immediately fades away and flies out to reveal Magaldi in the courtyard for "On This Night of a Thousand Stars" and "Eva, Beware of the City" and then the entire courtyard flies out for "Buenos Aires."
There is no independent stair that moves in, but the two side walls and balconies DO move in a several points. The stage right balcony, with attached staircase, does move in for "Another Suitcase.."
The set, while beautiful, genuinely does NOT work. It is incredibly bad form and bad direction to establish several drastically different, realistic and incredibly specific sets / locations, and then all of a sudden decide to treat it as a unit set after you have established a different design concept. It makes it IMPOSSIBLE to follow the changes in location / time and plot. To make matters worse, there are large stretches of time where two actors are left to play a scene on what is, essentially, a bare stage with nothing to anchor their playing space or allow them to actually DO anything physically that would seem natural and no isolating lighting to even define their space. Any other pieces used to define locale are then used in a MUCH more stylized way.. Eva's luggage used to create the stages for the Rainbow Tour and the falling flags, Evita's bed and casket, the banner to create the stage for the charity concert.. it is a design disconnect. Yes, pretty objects, but without cohesion and purpose.
Evita #198
Posted: 3/27/12 at 2:22amI just went and looked back at my London video... The screen has the funeral footage during the first part of Requiem Evita, and it goes up to reveal a sobbing woman against a pretty much plain wall with a doorway in the center (where the curtain falls for On This Night....) and a niche with candles in it. This wall is in place until it flies out before Buenos Aires... Is that what it is like for the Broadway production?
Evita #199
Posted: 3/27/12 at 2:22ambroadwayguy2, you raise a good point. It didn't seem like the lighting was well thought out. When they wanted to create a different locale, they never really darkened the rest of the set to create atmosphere. It's kind of a big fail.
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